| The Mask and Mirror | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 15, 1994 [1] [2] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 52:46 | |||
| Label | Quinlan Road, Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Loreena McKennitt | |||
| Loreena McKennitt chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [4] |
The Mask and Mirror is the fifth studio album by Loreena McKennitt. Released in 1994, the album has been certified Gold in the United States. [5]
Like most of Loreena McKennitt's albums, The Mask and Mirror is heavily influenced by her travels. Her experiences in Spain and Morocco, specifically, serve as the inspiration for this album.
As her introduction to the album, McKennitt wrote:
I looked back and forth through the window of 15th century Spain, through the hues of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and was drawn into a fascinating world: history, religion, cross-cultural fertilization....For some medieval minds the mirror was the door through which the soul frees itself by passing.... for others the pursuit of personal refinement was likened to polishing the mirror of the soul. From the more familiar turf of the west coast of Ireland, through the troubadours of France, crossing over the Pyrenees, and then to the west through Galicia, down through Andalusia and past Gibraltar to Morocco....the Crusades, the pilgrimage to Santiago, Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Sufis from Egypt, One Thousand and One Nights in Arabia, the Celtic imagery of trees, the Gnostic Gospels...who was God? and what is religion, what spirituality? What was revealed and what was concealed...and what was the mask and what the mirror?[ citation needed ]
Accompanying all the selections, as the liner remarks, are some of the entries in a traveler's log that McKennitt kept all throughout her journey.
The album's cover uses a collage made from the medieval The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries.
Loreena McKennitt wrote the lyrics and composed the music for all the songs except as noted.
| Chart (1994) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart [6] | 21 |
| Dutch Albums Chart [7] | 54 |
| Germany Albums Chart [8] | 18 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart [9] | 15 |
| Spanish Albums Chart [10] | 6 |
| Swedish Albums Chart [11] | 25 |
| US Billboard 200 [12] | 143 |
| US World Albums [13] | 1 |
| US New Age Albums [13] | 7 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina (CAPIF) [14] | Gold | 30,000^ |
| Australia (ARIA) [15] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada) [16] | 3× Platinum | 300,000^ |
| France (SNEP) [17] | Gold | 100,000* |
| Germany | — | 85,000 [18] |
| Italy (FIMI) [19] | Platinum | 100,000* |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) [20] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United States (RIAA) [21] | Gold | 795,000 [22] |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | — | 1,600,000 [19] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.
Elemental is the debut studio album by Canadian musician, composer, singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Loreena McKennitt and the vehicle with which she launched the Quinlan Road label. The album was recorded in one week in July 1985 and released later in the year. The studio was a barn in southern Ontario, situated in a field of sunflowers. It sold 67,000 pieces worldwide.
To Drive the Cold Winter Away is Canadian musician Loreena McKennitt's second studio album, released in 1987. It pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which "came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and tradition."
Parallel Dreams is Canadian musician Loreena McKennitt's third studio album, released in 1989. The album features McKennitt's own original compositions along with her interpretations of traditional material. It's one of the most successful independently-released Canadian albums ever.
The Visit is the fourth studio album by Loreena McKennitt. Released on September 27, 1991, the album has been certified four times Platinum in Canada and Gold in the United States. It was produced by McKennitt and Brian Hughes.
Live in Paris and Toronto is a two CD live album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1999. Disc one is a live performance of the studio album The Book of Secrets; disc two features songs from her albums The Visit and The Mask and Mirror.
The Book of Secrets is the sixth studio album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. The lead single of the album, "The Mummers' Dance," remixed by DNA, was released during the winter of 1997–98, and peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #17 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album is certified double-platinum in the United States. It has now sold more than four million copies worldwide.
"Bonny Portmore" is an Irish traditional folk song which laments the demise of Ireland's old oak forests, specifically the Great Oak of Portmore or the Portmore Ornament Tree, which fell in a windstorm in 1760 and was subsequently used for shipbuilding and other purposes.
Sufi music refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, inspired by the works of Sufi poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Amir Khusrow, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.
The Juno Awards of 1995 was an awards show representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year. It took place on 26 March 1995 in Hamilton, Ontario at a ceremony in the Copps Coliseum. Mary Walsh, Rick Mercer and other regulars of the television series This Hour Has 22 Minutes were the hosts for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on CBC Television. Almost 10,000 people were in attendance, and over 6,500 public tickets were sold. It was the first time the Awards event was open to the public.
An Ancient Muse is the seventh full-length studio album of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt. It was released on November 20, 2006, internationally, and November 21, 2006, in the United States and Canada. It was her first studio album after a 9-year gap. It has sold over a half a million copies worldwide since its release.
Nights from the Alhambra is a live album and DVD from the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt and is her first live concert DVD. It was recorded in September 2006, live at the Palace of Charles V, in the Alhambra, Granada, Spain, and released commercially in September 2007.
A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season is an EP by Loreena McKennitt. Recorded and released in 1995, it contains five tracks: three Christmas carols, McKennitt's adaptation of Archibald Lampman's poem "Snow", and the traditional English "Seeds of Love."
A Midwinter Night's Dream is the eighth studio album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist Loreena McKennitt, released on October 28, 2008.
Live in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts is an EP of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt. It was recorded live in San Francisco during a concert at the Palace of Fine Arts, on 19 May 1994 and released 1 year later.
"The Mummers' Dance" is a song written and performed by Canadian Celtic fusion singer Loreena McKennitt, released as a single from her sixth studio album, The Book of Secrets (1997), in November 1997. The song refers to the seasonal mummers' play performed by groups of actors, often as house-to-house visits. Its lyrics indicate a springtime holiday. Remixed by electronic music production duo DNA for its single release, "The Mummers' Dance" reached No. 10 in Canada, No. 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the Billboard Triple-A chart. A music video was also produced for the song.
John Joseph Welsman is a Canadian composer known for his work in film and television. He has written film and television scores for production companies in both Canada and the United States. Some of the films he has worked on are The Peace Tree, A Winter Tale, and Nurse.Fighter.Boy and Lantern Hill. He has been nominated for the Gemini Award ten times, winning four times for his work on the television series Road to Avonlea, and once for the short film 'The Bellringer'.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley is the ninth studio album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist Loreena McKennitt, which was released on November 12, 2010.
Lost Souls is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt, which was released on May 11, 2018. The track "The Ballad of the Fox Hunter" is an adaptation of the poem by W. B. Yeats, and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is an adaptation of the poem by John Keats.
The Road Back Home is a live album by Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt. It was released on March 8, 2024, through Quinlan Road.
supporting her CD The Mask and the Mirror scheduled for a March 15 release
McKennitt's guitarist played it on The Mask and Mirror, and the lilting sounds of Spain and North Africa are woven throughout the record, which is to be released today.
